Monday, 17 February 2014

Museveni ready for battle on gays

President Museveni shares a light moment with NRM legislators during the recent retreat in Kyankwanzi

Kampala.

After finally agreeing that he will assent to the
Anti-Homosexuality Bill, controversially passed by Parliament in
December last year, President Museveni has warned that he is ready for
“battle” with “outside groups” sympathetic to homosexuals.On the day
he told NRM MPs in Kyankwanzi that there is “no scientific proof yet
that people are homosexuals by genetics,”- a condition he had previously
given for not assenting to the Bill-the President quickly declared a
“big battle with outside groups,” who have been lobbying against the
Bill.

“It is on the strength [that people are
homosexuals by genetics] that I am going to sign the bill. I know we are
going to have a big battle with the outside groups about this, but I
will tell them what our scientists have to say,” Mr Museveni was quoted
by a State House press statement released yesterday.

Pressure against BillIn Kyankwanzi, the
President did not delve into details about the “outside groups” he was
referring to, but the Anti-Homosexuality Bill has been campaigned
against by lobby groups in the West.Last month, the Robert F.
Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights and the vocal South African
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu were engaging in clandestine diplomatic
maneuvers in a bid to persuade Mr Museveni not to sign the bill. US-based
Human Rights Watch (HRW) also voiced displeasure towards the bill,
labeling it “repugnant” and “of no benefit to Ugandans.”

“It only serves to jeopardise basic rights –
and[the President should] reject it,” Mr Daniel Bekele, the HRW Africa
director, was quoted in a statement last year.As pressure against
the Bill reached a crescendo, Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi told Uganda’s
foreign envoys last month that the NRM Caucus in Parliament will review
the Bill before Mr Museveni assents to it. It is unclear whether such a
review was conducted.

The Bill also put the Executive and the Speaker on collision course.Last
month, Mr Museveni penned a strongly-worded letter to Speaker Rebecca
Kadaga, accusing her of leading “a small group of our MPs” into passing
the Bill without quorum even after he had advised the dropping of the
bill until the government had thoroughly studied it.